Can I stick my existing SIM in an iPhone?

[anonymousbird]

I hate my handset with a vengeance, but am tied on my contract for another year. They are sending replacement due to numerous faults, but I expect I will still hate the handset!

Tempted to buy an iPhone and just be done with it - can I buy a unit, carry on with my contract and stick the SIM in my new iPhone (Vodafone SIM by the way)?? Legally I suspect dodgy under my contract with Vodafone, but technically I have no idea whether this would work or not.

Do I need to be "enabled" as it were to get the iPhone to pick up my emails, for instance? Presumably a bog standard set up like my current SIM might not be adequate for that??

Sorry for utter ignorance on this - my mobile phone life has been very simple thus far, just taken upgrades as and when offered and only used phone for text and calls, but feel it is time to branch out....

If its unlocked you can.

Actually re-read your post, you might want to shop around for a good deal on the iphone otherwise you might find yourself paying for using the features.

I have an iphone 3g ( so not the latest)on O2 and I get 1700 texts and 500 minutes free each motnh plus free internet usage.

Have you asked Vodafone about an upgrade. They will likely want money, but you'd probably be spending 300+ for an iPhone anyway (and higher for an unlocked one) so why not see what they offer. You would need the SIM to be known to be in an iPhone for any less restrictive data allowances...

Alternatively, get yourself a brand new unlocked phone from Asda Living (or one on Voda from there) for under 50 quid, to keep your Voda SIM in, and stick it out with the contract, if they won't come to a sensible arrangement for an upgrade. You hate the current phone perhaps more than you really need an iPhone, right? It may depend on your monthly fee as to what is best - if you had some smartphone and it is causing you so much grief you want to bin it (virtually if not physically) and Voda say they won't let you switch to an iPhone, then say you'll be making a spectacle of this rotten faulty expensive (?) phone on BBC Watchdog... as you are fed up with replacements and fed up with the faults and now fed up with Vodafone...

See if Vodafone will be a bit more flexible then!

Hello Network Guy. My current phone is bog standard, no smart phones in sight. Vodafone laughed when I asked about upgrades and simply said, you have a year left on your contract.

My current vodafone contract is £10 per month, so I am surprised that they don't want to up me and get more money out of me to be honest. I could just stick that phone in the drawer and get a new contract with an iPhone from whoever, my number will be "stuck" on my vodafone phone. I don't see how I can transfer the number whilst I am still under contract to them? Or, I buy out the contract presumably and just start again, then I can transfer the number??

It seems pretty dumb of Vodafone - they would have to let you "port" the number away (if you still wanted to) eventually. I can only guess that they have someone with two short planks up top who decided on current policy, considering how they are going the fastest way to losing you that they can with their attitude.

No, I would not give them the satisfaction of buying out the contract - that pays them the cash while at the same time giving up your allowance in minutes and texts for a year. Out of nosyness, what is the current deal (minutes, texts, per month) ?

I know my sister had a Voda contract for ages but despite paying some fee each month, some of her calls were costing 10p/min and I was paying 8p/min to landlines and mobiles on Asda PAYG (which is also using the Vodafone network). She probably did get a better deal with them in the end, but while she was a school head no doubt had many more urgent things pressing on her for attention than paying 10p a minute for the times when she had to use the mobile (she probably used home or school phones more, for school related calls, than her mobile).

Also, what phone is it that has been faulty ? A bit of a shame it's not a smartphone (as the BBC Watchdog threat might have worked, but for an ordinary phone not so newsworthy).

Does seem really strange they don't want your business for an iPhone tariff, although to be frank, I think O2 is a better option for "unlimited internet" access, so they have perhaps done you a favour in a way...